


That Thing You Do!

by ninemoons42



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-20
Updated: 2011-01-20
Packaged: 2017-10-16 22:36:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/170130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninemoons42/pseuds/ninemoons42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the first time Arthur realizes that Eames is pretty much the best boyfriend in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Thing You Do!

  
title: That Thing You Do!  
Written for [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/harlequincepted/profile)[**harlequincepted**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/harlequincepted/) \- Theme Number Two, First Times. Frabjously fluffy [prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/harlequincepted/3249.html?thread=41393#t41393) given by [](http://www.livejournal.com/users/loverly/profile)[**loverly**](http://www.livejournal.com/users/loverly/).  
author: [](http://ninemoons42.dreamwidth.org/profile)[**ninemoons42**](http://ninemoons42.dreamwidth.org/)  
pairing: Arthur/Eames  
warnings: There is a fair amount of fluff in this, as called for in the original prompt. This fic talks about food, chocolates, and hot water bottles. Unbeta'd.  
disclaimer: I don't own the original story or the characters. Not making any profit, just playing in the sandbox.  
summary: This is the first time Arthur realizes that Eames is pretty much the best boyfriend in the world.

  
"Hey, where did those files on the Becketts go - Eames?"

"Here."

And the big folder is back on Arthur's desk, and he just can't help himself - he has to go through it again, he wants to make sure it's all in order. Everyone's stuck their hands in it already: Ariadne, Cobb, even Yusuf, and now Eames.

And then Arthur's train of thought stops dead in its tracks because the pile of papers had been an unholy mess when he'd lost track of it yesterday. All he remembers is that the receipts and photos and documents were all jumbled up. Today, however, everything has been organized, in chronological and alphabetical order. There are helpful little flags pointing out the most important facts. There are post-its with notes from the surveillance runs. The code that he used to write the searchbot has been printed out and carefully annotated.

In short, the documents have been organized exactly the way Arthur likes them to be, and the system's even been improved on.

Arthur recovers, though, and he has to do it quickly because they're running out of time on this job.

But he can't help but shoot little inquisitive looks around the office as he works. He'd like to thank the person responsible for this.

///

The way their relationship works, they don't always have the luxury of going home together, or at least leaving the office at the same time. Sometimes, Arthur spends a long time balancing and rebalancing the information on the mark. Sometimes, Eames is  
up all night, practicing the mannerisms and expressions of the people he has to forge.  
Sometimes Arthur stays behind because someone has to run diagnostics on the PASIV.

It's Eames who waves him ahead tonight: "Sorry, I have to follow the wife, and she's going out to a hen party." So Arthur nods, and plants a kiss on Eames's temple when he thinks no one else is looking, and Eames squeezes his wrist, once, and they both walk out the door and turn in opposite directions.

Arthur's teeth are knocking violently together by the time he gets to the hotel room, and he strips off haphazardly, only remembering to chuck the suit into a dry-cleaning bag. He undoes most of his buttons, idly scratches his thigh, and he quickly brushes his teeth and prepares to fall into bed.

He hates having to wait for the bed to warm up.

Eames is normally a furnace, and it's easier to fall asleep next to him.

So it's a huge surprise when he sits on the sheets so he can take his socks off - and  
the bed is so toasty warm it makes him sigh and involuntarily fall onto his back.

Something gurgles near the foot of the bed and Arthur curiously lifts up the bedding,  
and. Well.

A hot water bottle?

Arthur crawls gratefully into the bed and he's almost immediately asleep.

///

After the job is done, Cobb takes them all out to dinner, and Arthur braces for the inevitable argument over where to go. This being Chicago, a city none of them call home, the argument starts almost as soon as Yusuf starts championing the pizza place he's been eating at every day.

But it's Eames who cuts through the discussion; he says, "I've already made reservations at Brasserie Jo. Steak, seafoods, lamb, choucroute. And it's Thursday, so they've got cassoulet. Let's go."

And everyone stops and falls into rapt contemplation of an old-school French meal, of steak-frites and duck confit and coq au vin, and a prodigious amount of wine. And Eames strides out the door, and Arthur is left thinking, _When did he have the time to do that?_

///

"Out with it, Eames," Arthur says, in the hotel room, when he finally thinks he's got everything figured out.

Of course, the fact that Eames has just presented him with a box of seashell-shaped dark chocolate pieces has helped. A lot. Arthur dives in; he pops a seahorse into his  
mouth, picks out a whelk for Eames.

"I can see why you might like this so much," Eames says, and he sighs happily and opens the bottle of red wine he'd brought in with the chocolates, and he pours and he offers Arthur a tumbler.

"Eames."

"Arthur," he says, in the exact same inflection.

"Eames, are you actually doing these things to be nice, or are you trying to send me a message?"

"Do...oh, are you talking about these?"

"And the hot water bottle. Reservations to a good French restaurant. Everything you've been doing while we've been working on this job."

"What? I did them because I had time, because I could. Are you asking about ulterior motives? I haven't got any. Just wanted to make things work properly, so you could work properly."

And if the next things he does include divesting Eames of chocolate, tumbler, and clothes, if he kisses him like he's never going to stop, it's not Arthur's fault.

It's amazing - Eames is amazing - and Arthur resolves to make it up to him, starting right now.  



End file.
